1,200 rescued from Umargam as flood situation worsens in south Gujarat

Relief commissioner Gaurav Makwana said around 1,200 people were rescued from Umargam, with the Centre deploying Army personnel and additional NDRF teams.

Published on: Jul 23, 2026, 18:48:05 IST

By Maulik Pathak, Ahmedabad

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Torrential rain continued to batter Gujarat on Thursday, triggering flood-like conditions in parts of south Gujarat and prompting the evacuation of thousands of people. Umargam in Valsad district recorded nearly 43 inches of rainfall in 28 hours, leading to the deployment of Army personnel and additional National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams for rescue operations.

Umargam received the highest rainfall during the spell, while Kaprada and Vapi also witnessed heavy showers. (PTI)

Relief commissioner Gaurav Makwana said around 1,200 people were rescued from Umargam, with the Centre deploying Army personnel and additional NDRF teams. Umargam received the highest rainfall during the spell, while Kaprada and Vapi also witnessed heavy showers.

Around 1,500 people were shifted to safer places in Surat city, while 200 people stranded in 11 villages in Navsari after flooding in the Kaveri River were rescued and evacuated. A drowning in Tapi was the only rain-related fatality reported so far, he said.

Chief minister Bhupendra Patel reviewed the flood situation at the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC) in Gandhinagar and spoke to the collectors of Surat, Valsad, Navsari and Tapi districts to assess rescue and relief operations, according to an official release.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah separately spoke to Patel and assured him of the Centre’s full support for rescue, relief and evacuation efforts, according to the government release.

According to officials, the Centre has deployed a 70-member Army team, five boats and a 25-member fire services team to Valsad, besides dispatching two additional NDRF teams from New Delhi.

The heavy rain also disrupted normal life in Ahmedabad, where all government, grant-in-aid and self-financed secondary and higher secondary schools will remain closed on Thursday and Friday. Ahmedabad district also witnessed heavy rain, with Mandal recording 166 mm (6.54 inches), Viramgam 144 mm (5.67 inches), Detroj-Rampura 106 mm (4.17 inches) and Ahmedabad city 89 mm (3.50 inches) between 6 am and 2 pm on Thursday, according to data released by the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC).

Officials said Surat currently has three NDRF and five SDRF teams, while Valsad has two NDRF and four SDRF teams, with one additional NDRF team and one SDRF team being rushed there. Navsari has two SDRF teams, while one NDRF team is being redeployed from Surat. They added that the Air Force and Coast Guard had also been kept on standby and that stranded people would be airlifted if weather conditions permitted.

As per SEOC data, Umarpada in Surat district recorded the state’s highest rainfall of 328 mm (12.91 inches) between 6 am and 2 pm on Thursday. Khergam in Navsari received 274 mm (10.79 inches), followed by Pardi in Valsad with 268 mm (10.55 inches), Umbergaon 251 mm (9.88 inches), Netrang in Bharuch 249 mm (9.80 inches), Valsad town 224 mm (8.82 inches), and Mehmedabad in Kheda and Nanapondha in Valsad 204 mm (8.03 inches) each. Vapi recorded 182 mm (7.17 inches), Becharaji in Mehsana 181 mm (7.13 inches), Dharampur 172 mm (6.77 inches), Vaghai 169 mm (6.65 inches), and Kaprada 167 mm (6.57 inches).

Officials said more than 300 panchayat roads had been temporarily closed because of overtopping, while over 200 Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation bus trips had been suspended.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maulik Pathak
He is an Ahmedabad-based journalist with more than two decades of experience. His career spans business journalism and general news, with reporting across politics, crime, governance, public policy, business, industry, infrastructure, energy, ports, aviation, the environment, wildlife and social issues. He began his career in feature writing before moving into business journalism, reporting on companies and sectors including energy, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, automobiles and real estate. Over the years, his work expanded to politics, courts, crime, public policy, civic affairs, the environment and wildlife. His reporting has taken him from government offices and courtrooms to factory floors, ports, forests and remote villages, covering stories that range from industrial investments and financial markets to elections, conservation and issues affecting everyday life. While many assignments demand the pace of the daily news cycle, others require sustained reporting over months and years to follow developments beyond the headlines. He started his journalism career with the Asian Age in Ahmedabad in 2002 as a feature writer and sub-editor. Since 2022, he has been working with Hindustan Times. Earlier, he worked with Business Standard, DNA, The Economic Times, Mint and The Times of India. His longest stint was with Mint, where he spent more than eight years reporting across multiple beats. During his career, he has worked in both reporting and editing roles, contributing to page planning, local editions and special editorial projects as newsrooms evolved from print-first operations to digital publishing. Early in his career, he also worked on media and documentary projects with an NGO and as a copywriter at a communications agency before returning to journalism. Away from work, he sometimes makes time for a pair of binoculars, table tennis, cinema and the occasional poem.Read More

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